How to Clean Snorkel Gear: 5 Points to Remember (With pictures)
Snorkeling, a practice enabling you to descend and explore the beautiful world underwater, albeit in shallower depths, unlike Scuba Dive where the diver plunges deeper into the water bodies.
The process comes with its own mechanism and handling procedures.
A Snorkeling gear consists of three main components with self-explanatory functions – a snorkel mask, a breathing tube, and snorkeling fins.
Although simple as the process sounds, cleaning part of the equipment is equally critical. Ignorance to an aspect as to how to clean snorkel gear will lead to adverse health effects along with ruining a wonderful experience.
So now, let us have a brief description of the cleaning process of a Snorkel Gear.
Getting a Glass Snorkel Mask is Always Better!
It is advisable to go for a glass mask for diving. Plastic masks, although available in the market, are more prone to scratches.
Scratches, even the smaller ones, can damage the snorkel mask permanently in a very less time period. Here, we shall talk about the snorkel masks made of glass.
Cleaning the Snorkel Mask Before Diving
The diving mask for snorkeling needs to be cleaned both before and after the activity.
This mask while manufactured gets a shiny coating of silicone to make them look attractive and brighter under the reflection of light.
But the same coating causes fogging in the diving mask while you are underwater and makes the view hazy. It makes the experience obviously unpleasant and irritating.
To avoid this fogging underwater, you can prepare your mask against it before diving.
Take toothpaste to your fingertip and smear it uniformly on the glass surface. Avoid to use the gel textured paste and take the normal one.
Rinse the paste off the glass surface under running water so that the little pressure will wash off the paste from the corners also, thoroughly.
Subsequently, dry the mask with a soft towel. Then apply the anti-fog solution to the mask and go on for use.
The process needs to be carried out every time you go snorkeling.
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Points to Remember for Cleaning of Snorkel Gear
Immediately after snorkeling, the whole apparatus needs to be cleaned.
If you are not in a situation to clean the equipment just after the diving, try to rinse it with at least normal running water to avoid generation of harmful bacterial films or infectious germs growth.
Check the nooks and corners thoroughly for any lumps of sand or sharp shells. Even the small amounts of sand or shell can cause permanent damage to the mask.
how to clean snorkel mask
Cleaning of the mask after diving also goes with the same procedure. Smear the paste over the facade of the glass.
Toothpaste can also be substituted with a solution of dish-washing detergent with water or bleach with water or any soap solution containing a less alkaline substance in it.
Shampoo with water can also be used.
Clean the glass with light finger pressure covering all crevices. Rinse off the mask thoroughly under running water cleaning all corners precisely.
Take extra care if the solution used contains mint or similar ingredients since they can cause irritation in the eyes the next time you wear the mask, if not washed properly.
Once rinsed off, dry the glass with a soft towel or thick cloth. A sponge also serves well for the same.
how to clean a snorkel mouthpiece
Breathing tube can be cleaned properly in a large utensil, for example - a bucket.
Fill the utensil with a solution of dish detergent and water.
Put the breathing tube in the solution for about five minutes and then rinse the same off thoroughly.
As for the mask, washing solution for the breathing tube also can be substituted with any less alkaline soap solution. Dry the tube with a soft towel or sponge.
Cleaning the Swimming Fins
Take a large utensil. Fill it with less alkaline soap solution. Wipe the dirt off the surface of your fins with hands.
Do not use any scrubbing tool or brush.
The apparatus of Snorkel Gear, for that matter, needs to be taken care of in a tender manner. Smallest of the scratches or tiny dirt particles can damage it permanently in no time.
Rinse the fins off thoroughly after cleaning under running water.
Then, dry with a soft towel or sponge.
Below are some more important points that come in handy and can be kept in mind regarding the cleaning of Snorkel equipment.
Cleaning with Vinegar to Remove Corrosion
Usually, this process is used to clean and remove corrosion from Scuba Diving apparatus, especially Scuba Board.
Same can be used for snorkeling too. But considering the fact that snorkel gear is a smaller apparatus mostly in physical connection with our body, the cleaning with vinegar has to be extremely meticulous.
An equal quantity of vinegar and water can be mixed in a bucket, and the apparatus can be soaked in for two minutes, followed by rigorous rinsing and drying with a soft towel/cloth/sponge.
how to clean moldy snorkel
Cleaning of fungal growth on the mask or tube or fins of the Snorkel Gear becomes a bit of a tedious task.
The best trick tried and tested by swimmers, in this case, is bleaching.
Put the affected area in a bleach solution for about five minutes. Make sure to cover the full area wherever the fungal growth is spotted.
Even the smallest amount left uncleaned will affect the user’s health adversely and impair the apparatus permanently.
Rub the whole affected surface gently with fingers. Take care not to scratch the equipment with a fingernail.
Clean and rinse off under running water and dry with a soft towel.
Wrapping Up
Snorkeling being a pleasant and exploratory adventure activity has become a sport of choice among the millennials. But at the same time, the activity requires a person to handle the whole process very carefully.
Not only you are required to be comfortable under water, but you also need to know as to how you will handle the activity apparatus efficiently under water so that the experience remains pleasant and the after effects are not harmful.
The guide for the sport can instruct you about the pros and cons & the mechanism. But in the end, one needs to handle him or herself underwater to make the activity comfortable for them.
And cleaning of the whole apparatus before and after the snorkeling is of paramount importance for the purpose.
Hence, for a quality and safe experience in the sport of Snorkeling, it is advisable to follow the cleaning procedure for apparatus flawlessly.
Once the above points are covered, you can look forward to the beautiful world smiling at you from under the water.
